I think most fantasy hockey players would agree that Antti Raanta is worth streaming every time he gets the start. The problem has been that Raanta rarely plays because he’s behind one of the best goalies in the world, Henrik Lundqvist. A healthy Lundqvist never sat three games in a row while healthy. Until this weekend. After a game on Thursday, Vigneault turned to Raanta again and he posted a 26 save shutout in the 1-0 win over his former team in Chicago. To the surprise of everyone, Raanta started again on Sunday and posted another shutout, this time an easy 5-0 win over the Devils in which Raanta posted 19 saves. If you streamed Raanta on Sunday, hold him until Tuesday to see if he gets another game. This certainly isn’t going to last, this is Lundqvist’s team, but ride the hot wave while you can. If you own Lundqvist, I would definitely grab Raanta and if he’s still available in your league, I think it’s worth grabbing just in case. At the least, Raanta is a must-stream every time he gets the nod. Let’s take a look at everything else that happened over the weekend:

Note: players may be listed twice as I am doing everyone’s preferred format but doing Friday’s games through Sunday’s chronologically.

Philipp Grubauer – 27 saves on 28 shots in the 4-1 win over the Sabres. Like Raanta, he’s a must-stream every time he starts.

Nicklas Backstrom – Two assists. No shots but given his recent volume, we can cut him a break.

John Carlson – Goal on four shots. You can put him on the boarddddd. Love him as a buy low.

Marcus Johansson – Goal and an assist with three shots. Can’t say I saw this type of season coming from Johansson. 50 points, sure, given his spot on the first power play unit. 35 goal, 65 point pace? Hell no.

Evgeny Kuznetsov – Assist with three shots and two PIM. Please let this be the turnaround.

Dmitry Orlov – Two assists with two shots. I really wish he received more playing time. I don’t think it’s enough for 12’ers right now.

T.J. Oshie – Goal and an assist with two shots playing over 21 minutes. The Caps are playing Oshie far more than any other forward right now meaning the points should be maintained.

Kyle Okposo – Goal on two shots playing over 22 minutes. Ryan O’Reilly (assist, three shots in 24 minutes) have been together all year but now Okposo will play with Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart with RoR. I don’t think it changes their values except that Reinhart could get a few more minutes.

Rasmus Ristolainen – Assist with four shots playing over 30 minutes. This is the guy I expected at the beginning on the year. So good.

Sergei Bobrovsky – 32 saves on 33 shots in the 4-1 win over the Red Wings. He’s up to the #3 goalie on the season; the bounce back is real.

Cam Atkinson – Goal and an assist with two shots. Columbus is unbelievable right now. Four goals on Friday, then six on Saturday (spoiler alert!). I don’t see why Atkinson’s production should fall off a cliff. I don’t expect a point per game but it should remain strong.

Sam Gagner – Goal and an assist with three shots and two PIM. I’m still only streaming because his minutes are low (12:39 in this one) but it’s getting closer.

Dylan Larkin – Goal on five shots. We are starting to get more from him on a regular basis but Larkin is still underwhelming quite a bit. Not enough for me to cut bait but it’s on the verge.

Thomas Vanek – Assist with four shots. He keeps chugging along and the shots have vastly improved in recent games.

Petr Mrazek – 14 saves on 17 shots in 33 minutes before getting pulled. Big disappointment for Mrazek so far this year although I can’t say I’m surprised. The team in front of him has weakened dramatically.

Jake Allen – 20 saves on 21 shots in the 4-1 win over the Devils. All he does is win, win, win no matter what.

Vladimir Tarasenko – Three assists with eight shots and two penalty minutes. He’s going to obliterate his previous career high in assists.

Robby Fabbri – Two goals. He’s definitely worth holding as long as he’s with Tarasenko.

Adam Henrique – Assist with a shot. He’s an elite streamer at the least but I’m fine with holding Henrique while he’s with Taylor Hall (assist, two shots).

Leon Draisaitl – Goal on four shots. That gives one of the Kings of Leon 10 goals in his last 14 games. He’s pushing top 50 value right now.

Cam Talbot – 34 saves on 36 shots in the 3-2 SO loss to the Wild. Prince Cam has been regressing quite a bit lately, to the point where his numbers are worse than last year’s now. I expect them to settle right around the same but with more wins.

Jason Zucker – Goal on three shots. Streamer success! He will remain one of my favorites for the short term.

Devan Dubnyk – 25 saves on 27 shots getting the win. What else is there to say about Dubnyk at this point? Best GAA and sv% in the league.

Scott Darling – 36 saves on 37 shots in the aforementioned 1-0 loss to the Rangers. He’s been great filling in so make sure to pick him up if he’s still available.

Hampus Lindholm – Goal on two shots. I don’t own him anywhere but if I did in a 12’er, I think I’d cut bait at this point.

Nick Ritchie – Two assists with a shot. He’s still worth streaming in the right spots but it’s not as good as it was in the beginning of the year.

Shea Theodore – Two assists with two shots. Still a big fan long term but not enough there at the moment in standard leagues.

Jonathan Bernier – 22 saves on 24 shots in the 3-2 win over the Sharks. It’s actually been pretty good this year outside of the disaster against the Flames. That said, I’m not necessarily looking to stream Bernier.

Steve Mason – 21 saves on 23 shots in the 4-2 win over the Stars. It looked like the Flyers winning streak was going to end but then a bunch of Stars penalties opened the door for the lethal Philly power play. Mason is still widely available and is clearly must own.

Brayden Schenn – Hat trick (all power play goals) on four shots with seven penalty minutes. Oh baby! This doubled his season total in goals and now with solid shots and well above average penalty minutes, Schenn is really starting to deliver.

Wayne Simmonds – Assist with two shots and 15 PIM. He got into a pissing match with Antoine Roussel (assist, shot, 15 PIM) with 11 seconds left in which they both received slashing majors and game misconducts. Us fantasy owners thank you! Simmonds is a top 5 forward at the moment.

Jakub Voracek – Goal and three assists with two shots. Is back to back four point games good? Asking for Voracek.

Devin Shore – Two goals on four shots. There is some talent here but Shore is only a bottom end streamer until the minutes go back up.

Jeff Carter – Goal on three shots with two PIM. Special Agent James Jeff Carter, FBI currently sits as a top 30 forward which is a bit better than expected.

Marian Gaborik – Goal on two shots. Gabby is worth streaming right now but the minutes need to increase for him to be held.

Trevor Lewis – Goal and an assist with three shots. He’s scored three goals in the last four games but there’s still not enough fantasy value here.

Peter Budaj – 19 saves on 20 shots in the 4-1 win over the Senators. Nothing has changed for Budaj. Solid wins, almost elite goals against, below average save percentage.

Frederik Andersen – 32 saves on 33 shots in the 4-1 win over the Bruins. After his dreadful first 5 starts, Andersen has been excellent. I think he should be owned everywhere and is probably a bottom end #2.

Auston Matthews – Goal on his only shot. He’s slowed down a bit, specifically in the assist department, but overall I’ve been extremely impressed with his game.

Carey Price – 15 saves on 16 shots in the 10-1 win over Colorado. Amazing that Montreal has been on both sides of a 10 goal game already. This game was 6-0 14 minutes in and 9-1 going into the third. Colorado is the worst team in the league right now, I don’t think there’s even a debate.

Max Pacioretty – Four goals and an assist with eight shots and two PIM. I have to imagine this will be the game of the year for fantasy. Obviously it’s incredible but we have to take games against Colorado with a grain of salt right now. That said, the shots have been back in full force lately pushing him back towards previous levels.

Tomas Plekanec – Four assists. He had only 9 points in 27 games before this game so I’m still avoiding Turtleneck.

Andrei Markov – Two assists with two shots and two PIM. Great bounceback form Markov to this point in the year.

Andrew Shaw – Two assists with a shot. I still prefer Roussel but you can go either way in terms of PIM guys.

Nathan MacKinnon – Assist with a shot. Even in embarrassing defeat, he still gets a point.

Sidney Crosby – Two goals on three shots with two PIM. This run is absolutely insane. 20 goals in 22 games.

Evgeni Malkin – Two goals on seven shots with four PIM. Must be nice to have these two guys to get your team four goals. Malkin is currently the #2 forward with his massive penalty minutes. Just stay healthy!

Phil Kessel – Three assists with two shots. He’s already more than halfway to last season’s point total.

Kris Letang – Three assists with four shots. The goals are down a bit but he’s on pace for over 50 assists again and the shots are actually up.

Jonathan Drouin – Two goals on three shots playing over 21 minutes. This is exactly what I like to see. Drouin is available in over 1/3rd of leagues so grab him immediately if you’re in one of those.

Nikita Kucherov – Assist with six shots and five PIM. A rare Kucherov fight and by rare I mean first of his career. Held his own too. Top 5 forward at the moment.

Roberto Luongo – 37 saves on 39 shots in the 4-2 win over the Canucks. Mr. Strombone was coming off a couple rough starts but the goals against and save percentage both remain ahead of last year’s excellent numbers.

Aleksander Barkov – Goal and an assist with six shots and two PIM. Finally we are getting a hot streak from Sasha that includes great shot totals. The top line is really coming on at the moment and I expect that to continue.

Jaromir Jagr – Assist with five shots. We salute you, Mr. Jagr.

Aaron Ekblad – Goal on six shots. It hasn’t been much better with Rowe behind the bench. Tons of shots but that’s about it.

Mark Pysyk – Assist with two shots playing over 24 minutes. An advanced stats darling, Pysyk was a personal favorite of mine in Buffalo. It’s probably only relevant in deep leagues but if the minutes are there, he should be an okay option.

John Tavares – Goal on two shots with four PIM. One man wrecking crew at the moment.

J.F. Berube – One save in 5:37 in relief of Jaroslav Halak. He finally played in a game! Up on the team all season for no apparent reason, I just don’t get it.

Sergei Bobrovsky – 28 saves on 30 shots in the 6-2 win over the Isles. It just keeps on getting better and better.

Cam Atkinson – Goal and an assist with two PIM. Top 10 in points per game just as we all expected. Unbelievable.

Jack Johnson – Goal and an assist with two shots. He’s still a mess that I don’t want to touch.

Seth Jones – Goal and an assist with three shots. It’s closer to bottom end than anything but Jones should still be owned in everything but the shallowest of leagues.

Mike Smith – 44 saves on 45 shots in the 4-1 win over the Predators. His save percentage is top notch right now but I still expect the bottom to fall out sooner than later.

Alex Goligoski – Goal and an assist. I would still cut bait with Gogo; he just hasn’t shown enough to warrant holding with the bad plus-minus.

Radim Vrbata – Assist with six shots. He had been through a cold stretch but I’m still holding because of the shots.

Viktor Arvidsson – Assist with five shots. Clear as day hold at the moment.

Dustin Byfuglien – Two shots and nine penalty minutes. The point streak snaps but Big Buff managed to contribute in another way. He’s really starting to pick things up.

Mikael Backlund – Goal and two assists with six shots. He’s worthy of streaming but nothing more right now, it’s too bottom end.

Johnny Gaudreau – Two assists with three shots. All he does is get two points in every game, no big deal.

Dougie Hamilton – Two goals and an assist with seven shots. Excellent contributions across the board has Dougie sitting as a clear #1 fantasy defenseman.

Sean Monahan – Goal on five shots with two PIM. I think it’s safe to say that boring Sean Monahan is back in business.

Matthew Tkachuk – Three assists. At this point, Tkachuk is firmly in the Roussel / Shaw class.

Chad Johnson – 26 saves on 28 shots in the 6-2 win over the Jets. There’s no stopping Ochocinco at the moment. He’s at a mere six wins in a row giving him 13 in 18 starts. Add in a 1.98 GAA and .932 sv% and it’s top end.

Cam Ward – 16 saves on 20 shots in the 4-3 loss to the Sharks. Regression fairies are being sent his way at the moment.

Victor Rask – Two assists with six shots. The goals have dried up a little bit but Rask is still on a 60 point pace.

Joe Thornton – Two assists with two PIM. The lack of shots infuriates me to no end.

Ryan Dzingel – Goal on two shots with four PIM. The production has significantly dried up so he’s left to be a bottom end streamer.

Ryan Getzlaf – Assist with three shots and two PIM. Still only 2 goals for Getzlaf but at least he’s on a 65 assist pace.

Ondrej Kase – Assist with a shot and two PIM. I talked about him last week; I’ve been impressed with his play and while it’s not enough for now, Kase’s an intriguing dynasty option in deep leagues.

Corey Perry – Goal and an assist with three shots and two PIM. Five game point streak for Scorey Perry who hasn’t shown any signs of decline this season.

Antoine Vermette – Goal and an assist with two shots. Solid deep league option with strong faceoff wins but I’m looking elsewhere for streaming.

John Gibson – 21 saves on 22 shots in the 5-1 win over the Senators. Every time it looks like he’s going to get hot, he had a dud but bounces back. Hopefully Gibson can start stringing some games together to reach his ADP.

Anthony Stolarz – 28 save shutout in his career second start, a 1-0 OT win over Detroit. He’s been backing up for Mason until Michal Neuvirth returns. With how well Mason is playing, the occasional spot start is all we’re looking at.

Brayden Schenn – Goal on four shots. Insert fire emojis here.

Wayne Simmonds – Assist with three shots and two PIM. Rocking and a rolling right now.

Jimmy Howard – 35 saves on 36 shots as the tough luck loser. He should get more games than Mrazek right now given their current forms.

Braden Holtby – 20 save shutout in the 3-0 win over the Caps. This game went as expected. It doesn’t seem possible that Holtby has better numbers than last year but lo and behold he does.

Alex Ovechkin – Goal and an assist with five shots. I don’t know why but it feels like Ovechkin is about to go on a tear.

Vladimir Tarasenko – Goal on three shots, this time from Robby Fabbri. These two are crushing right now.

Nino Niederreiter – Goal on two shots. I still prefer to stream him although I’m fine with holding in 12’ers.

Devan Dubnyk – 22 saves on 23 shots in the 3-1 win over the Blues. Dubnyk was already a #1 in my mind but Bruce Boudreau is a God pushing Dubnyk to the highest of levels.

John Klingberg – Assist with two shots playing 22 minutes. Again, I’m not selling low but I’m not targeting him as a buy either.

Scott Darling – 23 saves on 24 shots in the 3-1 win over the Stars. He’s still widely available, go get him!

Artem Anisimov – Goal on three shots playing almost 21 minutes. The minutes will be massive until Jonathan Toews gets back. He’s slowed down a bit after the great start but he’s still a solid contributor in points and +/-.

Semyon Varlamov – 51 saves on 52 shots in the 3-1 win over Toronto. This is what it takes for Colorado to win games, a goalie standing on his head. He was close to a shutout too before a late power play goal. You’re playing with fire starting him.

Tyson Barrie – Power play assist and two shots. At the end of the year, we know what Barrie is going to give. Despite the team being a mess, it hasn’t changed.

Nathan MacKinnon – Goal on six shots. Incredible goal in which he was high sticked at center ice but kept going splitting two guys, dangled a defenseman and scored while bleeding from his mouth. I’m not sure there are 10 better players in the league right now.

Mikko Rantanen – Goal on his only shot. Long term potential is excellent but only worthy of streaming for now.

Jake Gardiner – Goal on three shots. He’s an okay bottom end option in 12’ers but I prefer to look elsewhere.

Cory Schneider – 26 saves on 31 shots in the 5-0 loss to the Rangers. He has been horrific lately and is someone I’ll be sure to talk about with Reid for Tuesday’s podcast.

Chris Kreider – Goal and an assist with three shots and two PIM. Clear plus in all categories, here’s to hoping he avoids a prolonged slump like he has in years past.

Brandon Pirri – Goal and an assist with three shots. He’s one of the clearest streams there is. Hey, don’t pee in the stream!

Brady Skjei – Goal on three shots with two PIM. First career goal for Skjei who has put together a solid year. If you’re desperate for assists, he’s a solid option but that’s really his only value right now.

Jimmy Vesey – Goal on four shots with two PIM. Vesey only played 12 minutes in this one with the goal coming with 1 minute left so I’m still a bit concerned about his value.

Bryan Little – Assist with three shots. Clear as day hold at the moment for me.

Mathieu Perreault – Goal on six shots. Man, he’s been a point per game stud for a few years but Perreault has been a mess this year with only 4 points in 18 games. Can’t say I saw that coming.

Oscar Klefbom – Goal on five shots. That’s points in three straight for Klefbom but I’m still looking elsewhere unless I need extra shots.

Mark Letestu – Two goals on four shots, one of which was sniped by Patrik Laine into his own net. What’s with Jets players scoring in their own net this year? Letestu is a bottom end stream while he’s getting PP time.

Monday Streamers – There are only two games on the slate and I’ll make this very easy. If you’re streaming, it should be Penguins against the Coyotes. Conor Sheary, Bryan Rust, Scott Wilson, guys who are higher owned but may be available in your league (e.g. Carl Hagelin), anybody on Pittsburgh really. If you want PIM, you can go with Andrew Shaw. Otherwise, maybe Paul Byron but I strongly prefer Penguins.

That’s all for now guys. I’ll be back on Wednesday with daily notes given the small slate on Monday. On Tuesday, I’ll have a podcast with Reid out in the morning and a long overdue RCL update in the afternoon, I promise! As always, feel free to ask any questions or leave any comments below. Take care!

What are your thoughts on Ryan Strome in a 12 team dynasty? I’m still holding onto him thanks to youth/potential but right now his play isn’t giving me any confidence. Mike Ribeiro just got dropped and given his 50+ point pace I was thinking of swapping them

@Graham: I would feel safe cutting ties, Strome is a mess at the moment. I don’t like Ribeiro only because of his horrible shot rate but if you need assists / PPP with the chance of some good PIM, I’m okay with it.

@Shaun: If you are in a weekly league, I almost always defer to the guy who plays more games, especially when it comes to streaming. I’m obviously not benching superstars regardless but when it’s a close decision, defer to games played

Goalie starts strategy – a while ago you talked about this on your podcast and said generally get as many starts before the weekend before you start picking spots.

What if you have two elite goalies in Price and Rask and a third in Hellebuyck in case one goes down, do you still start the 3rd guy regularly or just keep him on the bench at all times and last resort on a Sunday if behind? He seems too unpredictable to start every game Monday – Thursday. Even if the other two don’t have games that night.

@Fungazi: I am still starting my third goalie almost all of the time. It’s too hard to win the wins category if you’re only rolling with two goalies and if you do get a bad start from Price or Rask, it’s too hard to make up with two goalies. If you want to sit Hellboy when they play like, Pittsburgh, I completely understand, but the majority of the time I’m rolling with him.

@Viz: Thanks, that makes sense. Does it change at all that the cats are W/L/GAA/SV%? In the same way that you might not have enough wins with 2 goalies, you could also pile up too many losses if Helle goes 0-2 before the weekend.

@Fungazi: No problem. Yeah, that does change things a bit. I would still lean towards playing him the majority of the time but I would be a bit more selective then. Instead of avoiding the top few teams, maybe the top 5 teams regardless and top 10 on the road? I would honestly look at betting lines to determine when I play him. When the Jets are big favorites, I’d play him, when they’re big dogs, avoid him and when it’s middle of the road, let your fantasy weekly matchup determine things

@Viz: Wow, that would work perfectly using top 5/10 offenses. The split for the last 13 starts since around the time he was getting added would’ve been 6-1 1.60/0.947 for the starts and 0-5 4.23/0.852 for the sits.

@Viz: It is all retroactive, so I included Edmonton as a top 5 goals/game even though they are 6th right now since Montreal wasn’t probably top 5 before last weekend. I’ll go with it for a couple weeks and see if the trend continues.

OMG omg the snow is real! Burning a doob 20 minutes away from the hill.. can’t wait to make my first line of the season haha. I could be talking with my wife right now but instead I read the vizlords write up. I was reading about Drouin and had also a similar thought when I saw his play time and 2 goals. Also no luck on Nathan front owner went dark after being down 11-2 this week after bragging about how well he was gonna do…. ouch! BTW Vizlord do you have a Walkman with a mix tape your dead mom made for you? Anyway in my attempt to always make my team better some great manager in my league dropped Crawford haha! Naturally I picked him up and finally.dropped that weed goalie I had… bishop/crawford/dubnyk not bad! Anyway who would you rather drouin ehlers or marches sauce* he goes great with chicken. I have room for 2 of them based on schedule March us lowest ap gtg thanks man!

@Shitwolf: Haha yes it is, I was at the Bills game yesterday and it snowed the whole time. Finally got some accumulation here. Anyways, I think given how strong your team is, I would keep the upside of Drouin and cut Marchessault instead. I know it feels wrong given his strong start to the season but I’m not convinced it lasts.

Hey Viz,
You think klingberg and Hamilton stay roughly as they are for the rest of the season? I have klingberg but Hamilton is a FA. Multicat shallow league, don’t count plus minus. Would you make that swap? Fowler and Yandle are probably the most significant other FA D-men available. Thanks!!

@Karlsson: It’s so hard to say with Klingberg but I do think Dougie is going to be around the same level. Since Hamilton is hitting all of the categories well, I think I’d make the move. If Klingberg shows signs of life, I think you try and get him back. Given players like Yandle and Fowler are on the wire, I don’t think anyone will be rushing to get Klingberg while he’s slumping.